Re: [SPAM] Re: Rectangular regions

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@xemacs.org>]

Jambunathan K writes:
 > "Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@xemacs.org> writes:
 > 
 > > why regions beat rectangles.
 > 
 > > The point is that Emacsspeak is an inherently linear medium
 > 
 > Rectangles are but table-cells - either belonging to table.el table or
 > Org tables.

Not the rectangles associated with C-x r <key> commands -- they're
defined by arbitrary row and column positions in the buffer between
point and mark, quite a different notion.

 > Out of curiosity, how would Emacsspeak users mark a rectangle or
 > traverse among those.

By touch (-typing), of course.  I've seen people use a mouse with
audible indications of row/column position, although I don't know if
that's been implemented in Emacsspeak.  I've not seen this, but I bet
very good accuracy could be achieved with a drawing tablet.  But even
if accurate, use of a tablet would require taking your hand(s) off the
keyboard.

 > Do they never use tables at all?

They do everything any user does, of course.  But frequency of and
preference for various activities change.

 > I would like [some] operations [on table cells] supported in Emacs
 > core rather than peripheral libraries.

You'll need to get people to agree on a specific table format before
that will make sense.  Eg, is org-mode table compatible with table.el
table (in either direction)?  How about REST or markdown tables, etc?